I graduated to my own website!

Click here to see my new webstite.

Last month I called Lyndia Carter, the wife of Feburary’s host D. Robert Carter, and told them not to expect more than three or four members.  I usually email members a week or two before our club night, I didn’t do this; I usually email a couple days before, this I didn’t do either; finally I “work the phones,” reminding members just before the meeting begins; this last chore never crossed my mind.

Eight attended last month including D. Robert Carter (host and presenter), Roger Layton, Bruce Bennett, John A. Taylor, Donnie Morris, Ken Warner, and two new members Ryan Nielson (a Utah County deputy from Spanish Fork) and Marcus Smith from Provo and the host of KBYU Radio’s Thinking Aloud

The last two books we have read, unintentionally, deals with genocide.  In January we read Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (2006) by Immaculée Ilibagiza (we spent a lot of time talking about tragic process of dehumanization that seems to precede this horrific action) and this month Cheyenne Autumn (1953) by Mari Sandoz, a book that stemmed the tide of unflattering stereotypical depictions of the American Indian, and attempts to offer an Indian perspective on the destruction of the Plains Indian nation.  Collegiality, Civility and friendship rules the program, however Bob found out fast only he liked the book.

Next month — tonight– we are reading one of, if not the first, novels that started the mystery genre, The Woman in White (1860) by Wilkie Collins,

John A. Taylor, who is tonight’s host, tipped us off about Ann Cannon’s Deseret News column (01/01/09) that, in part, ponders the question: what’s it like to read a club book you really hate?

Gentleman, If you are interested in joining our club drop me a line.

Sometime in February 2009 I will be joining the LDS Church Historical Department, taking on new position as Manager of Acquisitions, for the church’s archives, historical library and museum.

Since 1995 I have had the joyful responsibility of working with all of BYU’s library curators, rare book catalogers, conservators, reference staff and exhibition personnel.

My subect specialties include modern manuscripts, the administration of cultural repositories (archives, rare book libraries, museums and historical societies), architectural history (Mormon and 19th/20th c. American and European) and Historic Preservation.  My degrees are from BYU (Provo, UT) in American Studies (BA, 1985) and from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)  in Historic Preservation (MS, 1994).

Schedule for half of 2009 (Jan. to June)

January: Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (2006) by Immaculée Ilibagiza @ Bruce Bennett’s home (Springville)

February: Cheyenne Autumn (1953) by Mari Sandoz @ Robert Carter’s home (Springville)

March: The Woman in White (1860), the first mystery novel, by Wilkie Collins @ John A. Taylor’s home (Provo)

April: The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of stories, by Tim O’Brien @ Fritz Boyer’s home (Springville)

May: The Glass Castle: a Memoir (2005) by Jeannette Walls @ Brad Westwood’s home (Springville)

June: My Losing Season (2002) Pat Conroy @ Marty Ricks’ home (Springville)

July: Round the Bend (1951) Nevil Shute @ Ken Warner’s home (Springville)

This is the text I wrote for the 2008 A. Dean Larsen Book Collecting Conference booklet.  To see the complete booklet go to  2008 booklet.To read about the 2009 conference see ADL Conference.

The Motto of this seminar is Littera Scripta Manet, Latin for “The Written Word Remains,” taken from the motto of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners (scribes) of the City of London. This hands-on seminar is a primer for collecting and caring for personal correspondence.

Prior to telegraphs, telephones, computers and the World Wide Web, the hand or typewritten letter was the best means available for communicating with both semi-local and distant parties.  The act of letter writing could involve a dinner napkin and pencil stub, or the selection of stationery (fine papers, envelopes, etc.), writing tools (quills, fountain pens, ballpoint pens, typewriters, pencils and brushes) and postage (postmarks, seals or adhesive stamps).  In this seminar, we will examine a plethora of personal correspondence across three centuries, including the letters to and from kings and magistrates, famous Europeans, Englishmen and Americans (some literati, some glitterati), everyday folk, forgers and scalawags, frontiersmen and pioneers, Mormon missionaries and LDS Church leaders. The seminar will offer the tools, websites, and insights needed to collect, acquire, store, and enjoy these wonderful artifacts.

There is a second purpose for this seminar.  Today with our love of emailing and blogging, the U.S Postal Service has largely become the province of bills, catalogs, and advertisements; with handwritten letters, written and received, becoming something of an anomaly.  This seminar hopes to launch a counter attack by inciting or rekindling the letter writer in you.  Before I start the seminar, allow me to mention where to begin in writing your personal correspondence.

Recommended Stationers:

• Tabula Rasa Social Stationers (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Crane & Company
• Dempsey and Carroll

Selected Examples to be shown from the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library:

Note: The list below is only a portion of what will be shown in the seminar. Correspondence to be shown but not listed below includes letters from Brigham Young, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (naturalist and Antarctic explorer), Florence Nightingale, John Ruskin, Anthony Trollope, Queen Victoria, Diana Princess of Wales, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), Robert Eric Anthony Evans (a deceased personal friend) and Eva Louise Tucker Kauffman (my grandmother)

Philip II, King of Spain (b. 1527-1598); Letters 1591-1597 (MSS 504) This letter is from a collection of letters held by Special Collections documenting Spain’s naval wars against England (Anglo-Spanish War 1585 – 1604). The king writes of his concern about books found on board a ship taken by Spanish privateers. Phillip orders that the cache of books be taken to Spain, to be turned over to the Inquisition for their inspection. The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal or institution of the Roman Catholic Church, established to combat or suppress heresy.

Autograph Letter, signed; Hyrum Smith to Hannah Grinnel, 16 March 1839, one leaf with writing recto and verso. Located in the Joseph Smith Sr., Family and Hyrum Smith Papers (Eldred G. Smith donation)  One of four known letters wrote by Hyrum Smith from Liberty Jail (Liberty, MO.) during his and his brother, Joseph Smith’s incarceration. The prisoners were held in dank unheated basement jail for most of the winter of 1839. This letter is a personal note to Grinnel, thanking her for caring for his children in his long absence. The second half of the letter includes Smith’s counsel to each of his children.

Counterfeit letters (autograph letters, signed); Mark Hofmann; Joseph Smith to Josiah Stole; 15 June 1825 and Peter and David Whitmer to Bithel Todd; 12 August 1828. Mss. 1571, Box 5, fd. 15-19 (Mark Hofmann Case Collection, 1985-1989, by David J. Whittaker)

Autograph Letter, Signed; A.P. Whitmer (Union Solider) to John Whitmer, October 4, 1864, 1 leave, 3 pages; Mss. 1224.

Copybook letter, N.G. Larsen (superintendent) to the proprietors, Windsor Hotel (Denver,CO), June 5 1884; Provo Cooperative Association Letterpresscopybook, 1883-1885; Mss 1220. The letter offers bulk quantities of trout from Utah Lake, presumably caught in nets. The fishing stock would have included Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki Utah — a survivor of ancient Lake Bonneville), subspecies later eliminated from the lake. The railroad came to Provo in 1879, opening Provo to trade beyond Utah. Perishable foods, such as fish, were transported in railroad ice cars and could be shipped to a destination such as Denver in less than 24 hours. Alas, by the 1900, the lake once brimming with freshwater trout had been largely fished-out.

Autographed Letter, signed; Emmeline B. Wells, Secretary, National Women’s Relief Society to Mary A. White, President, Beaver County Women’s Suffrage Association; January 14, 1895; 2 leaves, three pages, Mss SC 48, fd. 2.

Letter and tintype photograph; Judge John S. Hough to Edwin L. Sabin, September 13, 1910, regarding the writer’s association with Kit Carson (1809- 1868); 1 leaf on letterhead + tintype of Carson and his son, under glass and copper matting (n.d.); Mss. SC 1072 and Mss P222. BYU has the good fortune of possessing some wonderful research collections created by amateur and hobbyist historians, who documented the American West prior before World War I. Sabin was one such historian, who wrote on Western personalities, including Kit Carson. Sabin’s research into Carson became Kit Carson Days (1914). The tintype was sent by a Judge Hough, in response to Sabin’s questions regarding Carson. The photo sent by Hough is one of the earliest known photos of the mountain man, expedition guide and Indian friend. See also collections under the names Fred Rosenstock, Robert S. Ellison, Earl Alonzo Brininstool and Charles Kuhlman.

Boutwell, John (b. 1874, U.S. Geographical Survey employee, mining engineer and entrepreneur) Papers (Mss. 1647, Box 46 preliminary order; correspondence 1890s to 1910s); Mss 1647, Box 46, 1890s to 1910 folders. This gathering shows the variety of correspondence, typical for middle-class, profession and educated men and women during the latter quarter of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Items selected include printed wedding announcements, personal calling cards, social and professional stationery/ correspondence, telegrams, railroad and hotel guest’s stationery/ correspondence, postcards and holiday greeting cards.

Autograph Letters, Signed; Johnson, Rolla V. (b. 1889) to Lozella “Zella” Kirby Johnson (b. 1897), 1915-1917, Mss. 3273/ Two or three of 51 letters written by Rolla to his young wife Zella (who was caring for their infant child) while Rolla served two plus years as a LDS Church missionary in the Northern States Mission. The letters document the encouragement and hopefulness, along with angst and insecurities encountered by a young married couple during an extended period of separation.

Typed Letter, Signed (on letterhead); Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) to John Arthur Taylor, 2 leaves, ca. 1960s, in progress without a call number A personal and newsy letter sent in reply to an admirer, who wrote to the artist about specific works of Parrish’s. The recipient is a current member of the Friends of the Lee Library Board.

A Beginners Basic Glossary Related to Letters, Correspondence, Stationery, etc.

This glossary was constructed using the following sources:

(1) Bookpoi: A Guide for Identifying Rare and First Edition Books: http://www.bookpoi. com/glossary_of_book_terms.html

(2) Houstonbooks.com: http://www.houstonbooks.com/glossary/

(3) International Paper Knowledge Center: http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=glossary/

(4) Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/toc/toc1.html

(5) Free Dictionary by Farlex http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

See also The Manuscript Society’s criteria for describing manuscripts and documents at: http://www.manuscript.org/criteria.html.

General Terms/Concepts:

• Philography — The hobby of collecting autographs.
• Stationery — writing materials — paper, pens, pencils, and envelopes.
• Stationery wardrobe – a complete complement of stationary (calling card, monogrammed note cards and envelopes, party or social event invitations, letterhead paper and envelopes, etc., may also include writing utensils, pre 1950s men and women had different wardrobes).
• Stationery Specs or Specifications — a complete description of the features of a product or stationery, such as type size and style, ink colors, paper type, quantity to be produced, and other special features.

Descriptive Terms:

• Autographed – Handwritten, typically by the author (as opposed to typed, or a copy from a printer, a press or a signature machine).  It does not mean signed
  by the author, unless the description specifically indicated this.  For further description see: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/autograph
• Autographed Letter (AL) — A handwritten letter.
• Autographed Letter, Signed (ALS; also signed, autographed letter) — Autograph letter signed, letter handwritten by the person signing the letter as opposed to LS, which is a manuscript letter written by someone other than the signer.
• Chain of Custody — Refers to sequence of owners of a document, rare book, collection, artifact, etc., demonstrated by the physical evidence, defensible testimony and associated documentation that proves a sequence of sales, transfers, and custody.
• Holographic — Hand written, not printed, usually produced by the author of the work.
• Inscribed Photograph Signed (IPS)– holographic writing on a photograph with a signature included.
• Laid In – A letter or other sheet(s) inserted but not glued or sewn into a book.
• Leaf (leaves) — The single sheet of paper, consisting of two pages, one page being on the front or recto of the leaf, the other page being on the back or
  verso of the leaf.
• Letter signed (LS) — A letter written by another, usually a secretary, but signed by the correspondent, as opposed to an ALS which is a letter written entirely in the hand of the correspondent.
• Manuscript (ms, Ms or Mss) — The original text of an author’s work, handwritten or typed. It is also an unpublished primary source usually housed in a library, archives or museum. Also refers to a book or document written before the invention of printing. The term manuscript encompasses a broad array of documents and records of numerous formats and types.
• No Date (n.d. or nd) — no date is on the top or in the body of the document.
• Ephemera – From the Greek work “ephemeron,” meaning something that is fragile, not made to last, something that will disappear quickly.  Examples are – manifestos, broadsides, programs, magazines, paper toys, menus, tickets, playbills, etc.; often included with correspondence or in a portfolio of letters.
• Portfolio — A portable case used to protect loose papers, plates, pamphlets, and the like.  It usually consists of two boards with a wide cloth or paper joint forming the “spine.”
• Provenance– The creator or collector’s source or order of a particular group of manuscripts (leafs, folder, boxes, etc.).  It is usually associated with the person(s) or organization responsible for creating, assembling, or altering a collection prior to its being placed in an institution.
• Recto — the front of a leaf (opposed to Verso).
• Signed – Bearing the holographic name of, unless otherwise stated, the author.
• Typed Letter (TL) — A letter written digitally via a mechanical or electronic machine that stamped a series of individual type on paper; invented circa 1870s, pervasively used in business and organizational correspondence after the 1890s.
• Typed Letter, Signed (TLS/TLs/tls) — Typed letter signed, as opposed to ALS, a handwritten letter signed by the writer.
• Typescript (TS or ts) — A typewritten copy of a work. It may be the author’s original copy, a typewritten copy of the manuscript, or a typewritten copy
  done by a professional typist.
• Verso — The back page of a leaf, the opposite of the front or recto page of a leaf.

Descriptive Terms Related to Condition:

• Browned — The severe discoloration of paper by poor storage and age.
• Foxing — A pattern of spotting or speckling on paper, usually brown or yellowish in tone and often more or less circular in shape. Its cause is not fully understood, but generally it is believed to be a slow process caused by microorganisms, enabled by impurities in the paper and damp or warm storage conditions that are damp and warm enough to facilitate the process.
• Water stain — Stain on leaves caused by water or other liquid; may cause discoloration and sometimes shrinking.

Terms Related to Printing, Illustrations and Writing:

• Calligraphy — Fancy penmanship used in inscriptions, diplomas, manuscripts, legal documents, etc.
• Engravings – -An illustration or decoration printed from a metal plate or wood block.
• Engraved Stationery (also called “hand engraved”) — stationery with finely detailed, raised letters with slight indentation on the reverse side of the paper. A printing method using a plate, also called a die, with an image cut into its surface.  The plate or die is a hardened metal engraving stamp used to print an inked image. A printer may reserve a client’s engraved plates for restocking stationery.
• Embosser — The device (usually hand-operated but sometimes operated by air pressure) used for raising letters or a design on the surface of paper, usually for purposes of establishing ownership.
• Embossing –The process of raising a surface pattern on paper by means of engraved cylinders or plates, generally employing both heat and pressure.
• Intaglio — An illustration transferred to the paper from grooves incised into metal printing plates.
• Letterhead — a printed heading on stationery, offering the name and address of a organization or business concern (the masthead or the top section of a letter, often with the logo and the names of the principals of an organization).
• Pictorial letterheads — a printed letterhead with a graphic or pictorial illustration, generally at the top of the sheet.
• Letterpress — The process of printing from letters or individual type in relief, rather than from intaglio plates or planographically (lithography).
• Lithograph or lithographic– an illustration transferred from stone plates, zinc plates, or various other plate material [litho=stone, graph=image].
• Scribe — Someone well read, an exceptional writer, knowledgeable in grammar and writing conventions, who performs secretarial and administrative duties, e.g., taking dictation, editing dictation, copying documents and maintaining, indexing and caring for records.  A scribe maybe be somewhat likes a ghost writer, also a notary public, confidant, or counselor to the wealthy and powerful.
• Stamping — An impressed mark, decoration, or lettering, not colored or gilded, usually appearing at the top of stationery.
• Woodcut — Printing method by a matrix where the “raised” part of the matrix only is inked and in turn pressed against the paper or fabric to transfer the inked image. Relief printing methods include letterpress, woodcut, wood engraving, linoleum cut, etc.

Terms Related to Paper and Stationery:

• Deckle — A deckled edge is the rough and irregular edge of paper that has not been cut.
• Device — Refers to a paper-maker or printer’s mark or imprint seen in paper, such as a laid or web pattern. It can also refer to letters or figures, or other “device,” worked in the wires of the surface (mold) or into the roll (machine made paper). Today the term can be used to describe a publisher’s trademark or logo; also known as “printer’s mark” or “colophon.”
• Envelope Lining Paper — Tissue paper used to line the inside of matching stationery envelopes. Used for decorative purposes. India Paper– An extremely thin, yet relatively opaque paper.
• Monograph (monogrammed) Stationary – traditionally three letters printed, stamped or embossed on stationery to signifying the first, middle, and last name of the owner.
• Laid Paper — A paper which shows thick and thin lines at right angles to each other, produced by the weave of a machine-made paper or, in the manufacture of handmade paper, by the mold.
• Mold — The rectangular wooden frame over which the brass wires or a wire cloth is stretched and through which water drains away from the pulp fibers in the formation of a sheet of handmade paper.
• Rag Paper — Paper that contains cotton rag fibers. Generally used for high quality stationery.
• Rule — A continuous line, thick or thin, that is used in decorative printing or on three-ring binder student paper.
• Watermark – A translucent and distinguishing letters, symbol, or design incorporated into a sheet of paper during its manufacturing. A true watermark is a contained alteration of the paper, made while the paper is still wet. The marks can be seen in the finished sheet of paper when viewed by transmitted light.
• Wove paper – A paper that has something of a cloth-like appearance that has been made on a fine-mesh mold which, when held to the light, shows no marks or lines.  It has been the typical paper used in bookbinding since the early 19th century. The effect is produced in machine-made papers by the weave of the dandy roll and in handmade papers by the wires of the mold.
• Vellum — Paper that has a vellum finish (smooth, creamy finish), that is relatively absorbent, making a good printing surface.  Originally, vellum was produced from the skin of a newborn calf or kid and regarded as a higher quality skin than parchment which might come from any number of animals.

Professional Organizations (for the trade and the collector):

See the code of ethic sections to understand standards and expectations.

1. Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA): http://www.abaa.org/books/ abaa/index.html
2. Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA): http://www.aba.org.uk/
3. International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB): http://www.ilab-lila.com/
4. Professional Autograph Dealers Association (PADA). http://www.padaweb.org/
5. The Manuscript Society: http://www.manuscript.org/ The society was established in 1948 as the National Society of Autograph Collectors.

Recommended Conservation Action:

Notes: Do not over do, or over use, archival materials, as the cost may not justify the returns, especially with contemporary materials. Also, the most important action you can take for long-term preservation of paper materials are (in sequential value):

1. Eliminate or lessen fluctuating temperature and humidity. Do not place materials in storage units, attics, basements, sheds, near exterior walls, heating vents, etc. Keep materials as close and as constant as possible to 50-65 degrees and humidity 30 to 50% (this is not necessarily institutional standards); at the very least place these materials where temperature and humidity are as constant as possible, such as an interior closet.
2. Eliminate or lessen light levels (natural or artificial). Keep materials in the dark. Do not frame and display original materials; instead display facsimiles (that are clearly marked as such).
3. Store materials as far away as possible from any water sources, such as above or below pipes (in associated drawers or cupboards) or in areas below bathrooms or kitchens.
4. Keep materials flat or upright, held up erect, so the materials will not bend or fold.
5. Above all else, “do not harm” for the cause of history or preservation. Do not automatically remove, separate, or break apart highly integral or associated materials (photos from papers or letters, highly from less acidic materials, or redistribute materials in a more “logical” order, etc.) because you believe the current arrangement may harm historical materials; instead use interleaving papers to separate or place unstable materials in archival or Mylar folders, while keeping the original or previous order of the materials. Protect the sinuous and web-like associations of historical evidence, no matter how seemingly remote they are.  Consult your local professional archivist, curator, or conservator for more advice beyond this oversimplified recommendation.
6. If you want to scrapbook materials, use only copies/facsimiles of historical materials; go back and read 1-5.

Recommended Supplies:

• Mylar folders
• Archival folders and containers
• Presentation folders
• Portfolios, binders, and scrapbooks

Recommended Suppliers of Archival Containers and Supplies:

• Metal Edge West (Los Angeles, CA) http://www.metaledgeinc.com/
• Light Impressions, Inc., (Santa Fe Springs, CA) http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/servlet/OnlineShopping

Recommended Readings:

1. Autograph Collector Magazine (Santa Ana, CA). Autograph Media Publication http://www.autographcollector.com/acm.htm
2. Manuscripts (New York, N.Y.) The Manuscript Society’s Quarterly (BYU library has the serial with stops and starts up to 2008, 1980 to present, indexed) Call Number: Z 41 .A2 A925 1 Non-circulating Special Collections Reference
3. Carter, John. ABC for Book Collectors (New Castle, DE, Oak Knoll Books, 1992). 6th ed. A classic in the field.
4. Peters, Jean, ed., The Bookman’s Glossary (Ann Arbor MI: R. R. Bowker Company, 1975).
5. Rendell, Kenneth W. History Comes to Life: Collecting Historical Letters and Document. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995). Also Forging History: The Detection of Fake Letters and Documents (same publisher, 1994)
6. Berkeley, Edmund, ed., Autographs and Manuscripts: a Collector’s Manual, in association with the Manuscript Society (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, ca. 1978).

Since 2003 the Harold B. Library at Brigham Young University has hosts America’s only conference created specifically for collectors of rare library materials.  Yes, there are lots of book fairs and festivals, history of book conferences, and a growing number of educational venues created for professionals; there is not, however a conference focusing specifically on the needs, interests and education of rare book collectors.  Here is where the A. Dean Larsen Book Collecting Conference fits into the world!

Scott Duvall (longtime BYU Special Collections librarian) and I co-founded this conference at the urging of our library director Randy J. Olsen.  The conference is a social, educational, tactile and visual feast of library collectibles; with an underlying motive to encourage personal collecting.  Are you interested?  Here is the url: www.lib.byu.edu/adl.

Over two-thirds of the annual overhead costs for this conference have been paid since 2007 by the A. Dean & Jean Larsen Family Book Collecting Conference Endowment.  That is why the conference is so inexpensive ($35 for the one day conference and $35 for each pre-conference workshop attended).  You can learn more about Dean and Jean in the bio section of the above website.

Below is a larger version of an article co-written with Stephen Hales.  To read the reduced and published version see:  Provo Daily Herald (Monday, 29 September 2008)- Local Opinion: Efforts Showcase Value of Provo history by Brad Westwood and Stephen A. Hales

Provo has received the designation as one of America’s Preserve America Cities (http://www.preserveamerica.gov/overview.html).  Why, because of the city’s efforts to preserve historic and cultural resources.   Provo was also recognized because it has tried to make history economically useful as well.

There are financially viable aspects to history; and Provo’s devoted local historians, newspaper editors, historic preservationists, city planners, museum specialists, archivists, librarians and community leaders have been working hard to prove this (later, I’ll mention a few of these people).  Obviously history is not like owning stocks or real estate; however, it too has its benefits, some very quantifiable, others not so easy to track — the latter are often the most valuable!

The resources of history should be both exploited and protected.  History in all of its physical manifestations — designated historic architecture and districts, historic parks and museums, the writing of local history, even the preservation of correspondence, diaries and photographs by local libraries, can support community progress.  History can also support economic development and, more importantly, contribute to the overall quality of life in a community.  How did Provo qualify for this Preserving America Award? Here are a few of the reasons.

Historic Preservation and Historical Sites:  Reconnaissance or scouting for Provo’s historic buildings started in the mid 1970s, systematic and comprehensively by the mid 1990s.  Today, Provo knows better than ever what historical resources lie within its boundaries.  This is knowledge “in the bank,” so to speak, useful for a number of tangible and intangible purposes.  There are dozens of individual entries in the National Register of Historic Places, and there are two historic districts listed on the Register; the later are the Downtown Historic District (est. 1990, the commercial district of Center St. and University Ave.) and the East Central Historic District (1998, loosely 600 East, 500 North and 500 South as boundaries).   These designations include some of Utah County’s most aesthetically pleasing and historically significant neighborhoods.

What is the dividend? — of course a rich, tactile presence of the past, the enjoyment of noteworthy design and craftsmanship and the preservation of sporadic open spaces, lush urban forestry and mature landscapes.  Appreciating and protecting historical neighborhoods (including the offering of tax credits and low interest loans) also incentivizes private home ownership, makes absentee owners more accountable and reduces community decline.  As an aside, Provo’s historic neighborhoods are moving towards becoming part of a greener America with smaller lots and residences, shorter walking distances to and from public transportation, employment, stores, restaurants and numerous cultural amenities (theaters, performing arts center, library, etc.).  Finally, many people simply want to live in beautiful historically interesting places.

The creation of Historic Landmark Commission in the early 1990s was giant leap in recognizing the city’s valuable architectural heritage. Defending the city’s buildings and districts of architectural merit (mostly allowing review for possible alternatives before demolition), the commission has frequently been at odds with property owners and developers, BYU and even the commission’s sponsoring government.  Gradually, over the last ten years the commission has demonstrated that careful review protects both individual and the collective good.

Provo Center Street, c. 1965

Provo Center Street; During the late 1960s, there was an effort to raze Provo’s historic LDS Tabernacle and build a large boxy mall in its place; instead by the mid 1970s, the city pushed for redeveloped, implemented a new parking plan, planted scores of Sycamore trees (on the center island and street curbs) and established a federally funded redevelopment district, the latter giving incentive for new retail and office buildings – some for good and some for bad, at least so far as the surrounding historic fabric is concerned.

In the early 1980s, Historic Provo Town Square rehabilitated dozens of historic buildings.  All together this effort to preserve and rehabilitate, created a genuine center street mall.  A center street mall that developers work very hard to replicate in contemporary open air, visually diverse, malls (think Provo’s Riverwoods). These contemporary malls are as much Disneyesque as they are comfortable retail experiences.  When you have a choice, taken them both!  However, appreciate and support the original with its historic and modern buildings, adjacent tree lined neighborhoods, retail shops, unique restaurants, churches and government facilities — A truly authentic and economic community amenity!

Provo’s (and Utah Valley’s) Open Civic Center: Perhaps the grandest center square in Utah Valley is Provo’s intersection of Center Street and University Avenue.  This grand little intersection is framed by three civic forces expressed intentionally by architecture.

On the east side is architect Joseph Nelson’s 1926 Greek Neoclassical City & County Building (based on Yolo County California’s court house).  This grand building represents both the law and local government, with its design exuding order and authority.  On the west side of the intersection is architect William H. Folsom’s Provo Tabernacle (Folsom was Brigham Young’s belated father-in-law by way of his daughter Amelia Folsom Young, the same lady who inspired the church leader to build the Gardo House in SLC).  This Gothic Revival meetinghouse represents the dominate religion in this open air civic center.  Finally on the north and northwest sides are two long streets of late 19th century business blocks representing private commerce interests.   The intersection is a wonderful convergence of social forces in middle America.  There is no grander –  or a better architectural expressions of community forces — in Utah Valley.

Provo Library at Academy Square

Throw in Provo’s annual Historic Provo House Tour (part of Provo’s Freedom Festival) and the city’s near twenty year quest to preserve the Brigham Young Academy Building, a cultural crown jewel, now Provo Municipal Library (500 North University Avenue), this national designation as a “Preserve America City” seems an obvious choice.

One last reason for this national designation.

The search for Fort Utah (Provo’s first residential outpost of European/American settlers)  started in the late 1990s with a question posed by Mayor Lewis Billings to me regarding the fort’s location.  I shared with him two hunches both of which turned out to be wrong.   The mayor’s question however was answered by way of a blue ribbon committee the mayor formed at my urging  (I was serving on mayor’s Provo Museum Committee at the time). The Fort Utah adhoc committee included a university historian (Dr. Tom Alexander), an archeologist (Dr. Joel Janetski), a geographer (Dr. Tom Hinckley), a special collections librarian (me) and two local historians (D. Robert Carter and Lyndia Carter).

The findings of this committee was this, the reconstructed c. 1960s Fort Utah (located in Fort Utah Park, 200 North Geneva Rd.) was about 1/4 of mile short of the original fort’s location!  The park’s former land owner was alleged to have said Provo didn’t build the reconstructed fort where the fort actually stood because he didn’t own that land!  My source for this statement? Theron Luke, deceased Provo historian and Daily Herald columnist.  After some exhaustive archival research plus two archaeological digs, the location of Provo’s first fort was found to be under the I-15 freeway (built 1962-1964)!   A monument was erected in Provo’s Paul Ream Park, adjacent to the freeway, to correct the record on the fort’s location.   The search also had another dividend, the mayor commissioned local historian D. Robert Carter, to write a book length history on Provo’s earliest years, entitled Founding Fort Utah, published in 2003.  In December Carter published a follow-up volume entitled From Fort to Village (Provo City, 2008).

Conclusion: Provo has learned that historic preservation and local history initiatives yield long-term dividends that improve the quality of life for Provo, and equally important, asssist in longterm economic development.  Regarding the latter, more dollars come to Provo because of stable residential property values (and taxes), because of historical tourism and because of retail destinations located in unique historical locations.   Attractive civic amenities, such as Provo’s municipal library, also attrach people to Provo.   Provo has demonstrated a commitment to protecting its historical assets.  The city and its citizens should be congratulated for receiving this national designation.  There is much still to do — that’s an understatement — more to preserve and to appreciate (especially with natural resources); however Provo has much to celebrate for the cause of history!

Postscript:

Stephen Hales closed our Provo Daily Herald article with this amazing quote by Baba Dioum, a Senegalese conservationist, “In the end, we will conserve only what we love.  We will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”  Provo citizens (and its expats like me) who love the city’s historical amenities need to search out more, critique and evaluate more, and publish more, regarding what is worth preserving.

I’d like to write an article about little known picturesque locations in Provo; known mostly to wondering locals and professional photographers, that are unique and out of the way, often with panoramic views and/or historical buildings or landscapes.  This is a brief listing largely missing the “whys” regarding uniqueness –  to come later.  I am listing only three  (I started with ten and cut down the list in order to get this posting out).

(1) The Recreation Center (AKA the Castle), above and part of the Utah State Hospital campus (450 North Center St.).   The structure is a Greek Theater: open air amphitheater wedged into a hillside overlooking a Greek city, or in this case, Provo.   Built in the early 1930s with funding from the WPA (Works Progress Administration), this structure was designed by Laval S. Morris (founder of Ut. St. University’s landscape architecture program) to allow the institutionalized to take part in and experience theater and the performing arts.  The theater’s design lines up with the nature inspired architrecture built in America’s national parks and forests c. 1900-1940s.  In the late summer and early fall a local theater troupe exploits to the fullest this picturesque site overlooking the night lights of Provo.

Olmsted commons & director's cottage

(2) Olmsted Power Plant, located on the mouth of Provo Canyon, was designed and built as a school for linemen and electrical engineers.  This little known and possibly the prettiest school campus in Utah, was designed by the architectural firm of Ware & Treganza between 1903 and 1917.  The campus has some the finest examples of Colonial Revival (used for school buildings) and Arts and Crafts (used for faculty residence) architecture in Utah County, if not south of Salt Lake City.  Then add in meandering stone  lined canals, century old shady trees and a serene grassy commons, you have an amazing landscape that thousand of people drive by each day (HW 89) without knowing the campus exists.

(3)  The Karl G. Maeser Memorial Building (designed and built between 1907-1911), is an amazing modern Greek Temple.  As grand as this building is (for Utah County) it is the Maeser Memorial landscape that truly amazes me.   When the building was designed by its architects, the surrounding landscape was considered equal to the temple, the latter placed perfectly on the brow of Provo’s Temple Hill.  The mature urban forestry, shrubs, grassy knoll and a peripheral canal (with its lover’s lane walk beside it) envelops the temple like a 18th century English garden, and has no rival in Utah, except perhaps in Memory Grove in Salt Lake City, and to a lesser degree in the landscape surrounding Old Main at Utah State University in Logan.  This integrated setting is relatively modest (approximately 12 acres) yet offers a series of sublime visitas that frame views of the Wasatch Front (especially Rock Canyon), Utah Lake,  and the surrounding pre 1940s BYU campus. Until the canal was piped and covered and the shrubbery trimmed (c. 2005-07), a small herd of deer lived year round on Temple Hill.

Other sites I would include in this proposed article are: (4) BYU’s Botany Park (with its spring fed canal and pond, and trees planted loosely to match America’s major ecological regions), (5) Provo’s Lions Park (1250 North 400 West) with its c. 1965 concrete pavilion with a hyperbolic shaped roof  is a Modernist wonder for Provo,  (6) the panoramic views of the Wasatch Front as seen from farm land at the edge of Mud Lake (the eastern segment of Utah Lake re-branded in the late 1970s as the “East Bay”), (7) the views of Provo and Orem from America’s largest mountain side school letter (the Y),  (8)  Squaw Peak Trail at specific locations overlooking Provo, (9) Provo’s City & County Building’s grand exterior staircase, colonnade and tympanum (an ornamental recessed panel in the pediment) the later with its narrative sculpture symbolizing Provo’s history and progress carved from Oolitic Limestone, (10) the c. 1955 administrative offices of Pacific States Cast Iron & Pipe Company (2550 So. Industrial Pkwy) is the most well preserved example of International Style design (both in its architecture and its landscape) in Utah Valley, and  (11) the well preserved upscale late 19th and early 20th century homes on East Center Street.

What little known yet picturesque Provo sites do you think should be included in this list?

So periodically I want to write about this seminal influence in my life.

In contrast to conservative and mostly homogeneous Mormon Provo, Westwood’s Cafe was something very different. As a child it was a strange and magical place, mostly because of the stream of travelers passing through the adjacent bus depot on a daily basis (it could also be because of the free soft serve ice cream and cheeseburgers). Daily, hundreds of people, young and old, whole families, couples and individuals, traveled through Provo on their way to Southern California, the Midwest and the eastern United States.  Passengers stopped ten to thirty minutes, to stretch, use the restrooms, buy food and smoke cigarettes.  Between 1957 and 1980, four to nine Greyhound buses stopped in Provo daily.  Before airlines where deregulated in 1978, much of America’s middle class, and nearly all of its working poor, traveled long distances either on a Greyhound or Trailways Bus.

In between the comings and goings of buses, me and my siblings (mostly my twin brother Barry) moped and polished the linoleum floors with a big circular polisher that would wimp us around; clean the sinks and toilets, wipe down the 10 cent toilet stalls and refill the paper goods (In my father’s world, hands and floors were to be constantly cleaned).  We also helped waitresses make and sell drinks and sandwiches, wash dishes, looked up bus schedules and sell tickets, or moved luggage into the compartments under the buses.

All the while I marveled at the parade of mop tops and beards, leaning beehives, dark, wet and Brill Cream hair with big forehead curls, Afros, hair in big curlers (on women and men),  shaved heads and robes, priests in robes and nuns in habits, moms with squalling babies in dirty diapers (frequently left in our rubbish bins), suited men wearing yarmulkes, thin cigarettes and fat cigars, arms with tattoos of anchors and woman and lots of colorful and shiny polyester fabrics – all so very foreign to Provo.

While listening to these passangers, I developed an ear for identifying regional accents; I also acquired a love for either eavesdropping or listening directly to the sad and the miraculous stories of waylaid travelers.

Finally, for this entry, just before Christmas (early Dec. 2008), I found myself standing behind a UTA bus, and suddenly the fumes coming out of that bus (yes I know, this shouldn’t be a pleasant odor) took me back to the 1960s depot, with the scenic cruiser double level buses left running in the back lot, and the drivers in their light blue and gray uniforms punching the tickets for new passengers waiting to enter the buses.

Do you have a memory of Westwood’s Cafe or the Provo’s Greyhound bus depot?